Hi Vicki -
Thank you for your questions and I hope this gives some insight for you.
In regards to the networking trends, we definitely see an increase in groups adding a welcome dinner or reception at the beginning of their event. This is mainly due to the fact that attendees were not able to meet in person in the last few years. The main request is an outdoor space that has a unique setting or different from a meeting space since they will be in the ballrooms during the day for their meeting, they want something different. This is usually paired with a theme or specific cuisine and entertainment.
As far as the transformation for a meeting space, it is going away from the traditional set up and an additional set up such as a lounge, living room, or cocktail tables in the same space, to give the attendees the time and opportunity to mingle. There are even meetings now where they entire set up is lounge style or cocktail tables. That way people, can move, mingle and are not seated next to the same people the entire meeting.
Working for a Marriott hotel and seeing your last question hurts my heart. At my property, we have a rule that if a question, lead or RFP comes in before 5PM, it will be answered in the same day, or we reach out to the client. After 5PM, you will have a response the next business day. If for some reason, we are not able to return a question right away as we need to consult with our chef or operations team, we would still email the client to let them know that we are working on it and have an answer within a certain time frame. However, being able to see in our booking system if other Marriott hotels are sourced, it actually happens often that their response is delayed. In my direct market, this is all due to staff shortages and not having the people in the office to answer any questions or leads. As an event planner, you are vital to our property and you could address this with that property that if an immediate response is needed that you would list this in the email that you send and if it is a question that does not need to be answered right away.
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Femke DeGroot
Sales
Boca Raton Marriott at Boca CenterUnited States
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-03-2023 09:45
From: Vicki Clancy
Subject: Ask the Expert - March 9 | How technology and content can give event professionals what they need faster
- What trends are you seeing for networking opportunities and welcome/dinner receptions for events?
- What do you feel is the best way to transform a ballroom into an engaging space to captivate attendees?
- We have a 4 year contract at a Marriott property, but the response times are delayed 4-7 days. Do you see this commonly? Is it due to less staff, or the demand for more in-person events, or both?
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Vicki Clancy
Event Coordinator
CDWUnited States
Original Message:
Sent: 03-01-2023 08:52
From: Tanvi Kakodkar
Subject: Ask the Expert - March 9 | How technology and content can give event professionals what they need faster
It's time for our first Ask the Expert session of 2023 in the Open Forum!
Planners are exhausted. According to the February Northstar/Cvent Meetings Industry PULSE Survey, planners are optimistic and perceive the value of in-person to be greater than pre-pandemic, but they're also stretched thin, expecting fewer attendees, and experiencing slow RFP response times. Join us on March 9, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET to find out how to help planners simplify their workload.
Hear from industry experts on how technology and content can help hotels and venues give planners what they need faster. Have you found any tactics or solutions to improve RFP response times? What content could hotels provide to support planners and their events more?
Our featured experts include:
@Femke DeGroot, Director of Sales & Marketing at Boca Raton Marriott at Boca Center
@Rose Strickland, Vice President, Events at Neuberger Berman
Cvent has partnered with Northstar Meetings Group to co-produce and cosponsor the Meetings Industry PULSE Survey. We surveyed 450+ event professionals in January 2023 to get a look at planner sentiment around the meetings and events industry.
Ask your questions and get real-time answers from the expert panel.
How the Ask the Expert session will work:
Add your questions to this post any time before or during the Ask the Expert session on March 9. Be sure to look at other Community users' questions and click Recommend to those you would also like to learn more about.
You can expect to see answers from our experts starting at 11:00 am ET on Thursday, March 9. Follow the thread by clicking the blue star and be ready to add follow-up questions and discuss further with other users. We'll wrap up the event at 12:00 pm ET, so be sure to join us then.
We look forward to reading your questions!
Note: This post contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Specifically, any unreleased services, features, functionality, or enhancements referenced in this discussion post or in other public statements are not yet generally available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who license any solutions from Cvent, Inc. should make their purchase decisions based on features that are currently available. We have based these forward-looking statements on our views with respect to future events and development plans as of the date that they were made. We assume no obligation for and do not intend to update any such forward-looking statements.
#GroupBusiness
#SourcingaVenue
#PromotingYourEvent
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Tanvi Kakodkar
Customer Marketing at Cvent
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